Scientists analyzed data spanning more than a decade concluding that there is a correlation between sexual activity and pot use

According to a newly released study, if you are apot smoker, you are likely having sex at least one more time a week than non-pot smokers. Dr. Michael Eisenberg initially set about trying to prove his assumption that marijuana use impairs sexual function. However, he was shocked to find that this hypothesis was not the case.

Eisenberg, a urologist at Stanford University. Initially, he felt biased towards assuming that marijuana would lower the libido and lead to men experiencing erectile dysfunction. He presumed this would be the case as studies have shown that the longer men smoke cigarettes, the more likely they will experience erectile dysfunction.

However, when he sought scientific evidence for his assumptions, he found none

Instead, his time pouring over data appeared to reveal that marijuana might alternatively be closely associated with the sex-drive. Experiments that scientists had performed on humans, and unfortunately innocent non-consenting animals, showed that pot excites the areas of the brain associated with sexual arousaland activity.

Consequently, Eisenberg teamed up with Dr. Andrew Sun to analyze anecdotal data from the National Survey of Family Growth. Information gathered during 2002, and 2006-2015 appeared to correlate with the human and animal experiments. The surveys contained the anecdotal pot smoking experiences of 23,000 men and 28,000 women. While only 14.5% of the women surveyed admitted to daily pot smoking, just under a quarter of the men confessed to needing to toke weedeach day.

More sex means more pot? Or vice versa?

Eisenberg and Sun then recorded the amount of times that all the survey participants alleged that they had sex per week. They discovered that the more the participants claimed that they had sex during the week, the more likely they were to be pot smokers. In fact, pot smokers appeared to have sexone more additional time a week than non-pot smokers.

Apparently, women who have sex an average of 7.1 times a week are more likely to smoke pot on a daily basis. Women who don’t smoke weed daily have sex only 6.0 times per week. These stats appeared to correlate with men also. Men who had sex an average of 6.9 times per week admitted to a daily toke of weed, and those who had sex only around 5.6 times per week weren’t interested in indulging in marijuana.

Vague connections between pot and sex still remain

Eisenberg and Sun published their findings in November’s Journal of Sexual Medicine. Nevertheless, they stress to the media that this is the first study to make a correlation between pot and sex. Indeed, the connection between weed and doing the deed remains vague. Both researchers insist that this research needs to be merely a launch pad for further exploration into the topic.

“additional research is needed to further define this association and address critical questions regarding marijuana use and sexual function” – Eisenberg and Sun

The media, however, have jumped upon this research declaring it to be evidence of how fantastic marijuana is for improving one’s sex life. Eisenberg had merely wished to find out if pot reduced libido. The scientists utilized data that was entirely “self-reported” and anecdotal. There was no physical proof that indeed, the more weed someone smokes, the more they have sex.

One could potentially interpret the stats in a variety of ways. Especially considering the experiments that scientists have previously performed on animals and humans. Indeed, pot activates the same parts of the brain as sexual arousal does. But this, in fact, is a case of what come’s first? The chicken or the egg? Or one might say, what comes first? The pot smoking? Or an individual’s desire to activate that part of their brain to enjoy the effects?

Another aspect not understood by the vague statistical results is if weed could be potentially physically damaging in other ways

For example, aDanish studyin 2015 suggested that marijuana use is linked to infertilityproblems in men. When the Danish researchers analyzed 1,215 semen samples from men aged between 18 and 28, they noticed anomalies. Those men who smoked weed a few times a week had a 28% lower sperm count. Additionally, they had a 29% lower sperm concentration.

What Eisenberg and Sun’s results also didn’t analyze is the connection between smoking weed and the statistical increase in erectile dysfunction in men over 45 years of age. According to Eisenberg, the conclusions about this could go either way: “It’s certainly reassuring that this is probably not the primary driver of erectile dysfunction in this population. If they were to stop smoking pot, this wouldn’t necessarily turn things around.”

The need for further research

Therefore, it is not really clear either way. Does smoking more pot lead to getting lucky in the sack more often? Or is it a matter of pleasure seekers being more likely to seek increased sex and pot than the rest of the population? Indeed, further studies are required in order for the public to be able to draw any definitive conclusions.